Love your mill some more...
I was looking through some old Capital Arguments columns and decided this one was worth repeating. After all, if you are thirty years old, likely you were in college when it first appeared.
There have been very few mills I have walked into during my career where I could say, "Somebody loves this mill."
If you ever see one, you will know the signs. It will be as perfectly maintained as the town in Jim Carrey's movie, "The Truman Show." Everything will be neat, orderly and well maintained.
If you are in a mill that is not like this (and you most likely are), don't despair. As a capital projects engineer, you can have a strong influence on creating islands of exemplary examples (I almost said "islands of love") in your mill.
Do your projects with care, thought and purpose. Talk to operations and maintenance, and install capital equipment in a manner such that it is fun to operate, a pleasure to maintain.
This does not cost money or sacrifice schedule. It just requires you to think. Heck, in this day of the Internet, you will probably be able to do five minutes of searching and find exemplary examples of what you need to do, down to the specific unit ops you are working on.
Create these little "flower beds" around your mill and they will spread and grow. And, a little secret--you will be the most in demand project engineer in your mill. Can't hurt for career longevity, can it?
